Saturday, October 24, 2015

I define myself as a Polymath, visionary and indefatigable change agent. It is a self-definition that I wish was more common among the intelligent. The world needs more of them. Polymathica absolutely needs them.PolymathAs a Polymath, I have dedicated my life to learning. I am capable of reading with comprehension peer reviewed articles in dozens of fields in the natural and social sciences. Over the years, I have become quite expert in several fields including Economics, Psychometrics, Business theory and practice, Philosophy, Statistics, Physics, Population Genetics, to name a few. I have a number of standing search strings at Google Scholar. So, after I have checked my e-mail and had my morning coffee, I start my day with Abstracts. If any of the articles appear to be worthy of a full read (which actually isn't very common), I tag it for later in the day. I then scan a series of online newspapers, including Guardian, The Economist, BBC.com, RT.com, Pravda.ru, al Jazeera America, et alia. This allows me to see different takes on the same events as well as gain an understanding of who is being made of aware of which news stories. Right now, the Syrian military actions are the point of greatest divergence in reporting.Surprisingly, it also leads me back to some peer reviewed papers. For example, today The Economist drove me to a Nature article on important experimental results on Bell's TheoremVisionaryI call myself a visionary because, dispositionally, my interest is primarily in how things could be better than they are today. The global Western civilization of free markets and liberal democracy arguably has given us the best time in history. However, that is good, only if one grades on a curve. I do not. On an absolute scale, I would give it a C- at best.We have an opportunity during the Transformation to create the first true Golden Age of Mankind, with liberty, justice and universal affluence. I discuss this in my blog under the pages The Transformation, Cultures of Affluence, The Finely Crafted Life, and Rise of Microstates. The world I envision is far different than the world of today. And, because it is multicultural, it does not depend upon my personal notions of what is good or better.For example, currently there are many neomarxist movements sprouting up everywhere, primarily using the coming wave of technological unemployment and the resultant income disparity as a tool to argue for large institutionalized income transfers. I am not in favor of them. However, I am in favor of allowing proponents of these visions to create microstates where their particular brand of neomarxism is implemented. Everyone, if they have at least a few thousand compatriots, should have a shot at their utopian vision.My vision, and I think there are quite enough compatriots in this to eventually make it a reality, is to create a Polymathican microstate(s). I explore the idea deeply at the end of the page 'Rise of Microstates.'Indefatigable Change AgentI am also an indefatigable change agent. This is important because, despite the thankless nature of the activity, I am forever attempting to mobilize people to begin the process of creating the Information Age civlization. I try to argue from several perspectives. Some people, I hope, are visionaries and will be motivated by the nature of the vision. However, also, people who stay on the forefront of the Transformation will also be among the people who achieve Information Age careers and income well in advance of the general population.Hyperintellectuals (160+ D15IQ) people are strongly inclined toward being lotus eaters who consider small group arguments as the height of action. That is a generalization, of course, and as a change agent, I am constantly trying to find the exceptions. It is a thankless job, but I will never stop doing it.

To this end, I do need to find people of action to create Polymathica, complete with a web presence and The Polymath magazine. Our first step is to create curated groups/forums that will, over time, through blogs, advertising, etc. build Polymathica into the multi-million member community that it should be.

We also need to create educational systems and certification processes for Polymaths. This will be useless if we do not, also, have people who are promoting the value of a Certified Polymath. The most powerful argument will be the contribution of our Certified Polymaths, so, despite the current lack of respect, we need to find people who are willing to be pioneers in certification.So, A Call to ActionA global network of culturally and values defined microstates is an inevitable outcome of the Transformation and I believe that Polymathica will be one of those Cultures of Affluence that eventually will be manifested in many microstates. While the Libertarian City-State of Honduras looks like it will be the first, I believe that Polymathica can be one of the first few microstates. However, we first need to make the first step. In order to do that, it must attract more than just I as a Polymath, visionary and indefatigable change agent.

Perhaps you? If so, subscribe to The Polymath and join our group http://polymathica.network-maker.com

Saturday, October 17, 2015

I listened to U.S. Democratic Presidential debate the other day and I was dismayed by the incessant hammering the participants applied to the 1% richest people. This only works as a political tactic, and it works quite well on the left side of the spectrum, because people don't understand statistics very well. Specifically, people are predisposed to accept a reification of a statistically defined classification.

Four years ago, $350,000 per year household income was sufficient to be in the 1%. Today, household income must be over $500,000 to make the top 1%. People look at that and conclude that while the rest of the country saw little or no real increase in their income, the 1% saw an increase of nearly 50%. Let me state this without equivocation.

This is good politics but it is horrible statistics!!!

This 'us vs them' mentality has become so pervasive that it will not be easy for most readers to have their perspective on this corrected. However, it is very important that they do. It is one of those cases where people's thoughts are being manipulated for political gain.

The 1% is not a monolith. It is fluid. Families enter the 1% and then, as often as not, leave it. By age 60, 11.1% of families have at least one year in the top 1%. Only about 60% of those families who are in the top 1% for at least one year in their life will be in the top 1% for ten or more years. This is what I mean by reification. There is no ccommunity of wealthy While some members of the top 1% persist, it is generally comprised at any one time of less than 10% of those who will be in the group at some piont. For example, a family that earned $350,000 in 2010 was in the upper 1% that year. Even if they got raises of 6% per year, well above what was received by the middle class, in 2014 their income would be about $440,000 and they would no longer be in the upper 1%. Put another way, it is not that the wealthy got huge income increases, though some did. Rather what happened is the amount of income needed to make the top 1% increased significantly, primarily because new people entered the ranks of the wealthy and often they did so at an income level well above the minimum requirement.

Part of what causes this are many small business owners who sell their business and retire. In the year of the sale their income can reach the upper 1%, but it will go back down the next year and from then on. They only sell out and retire once, but there are so many small businesses that they still comprise a significant portion of the top 1%. Because the 'baby boomers' are retiring now, this is particularly important.

The idea that there are these 1% wealthy families who are getting huge income increases and everyone else is getting nothing is just not correct. The proper analytical approach is to choose an income level designated as 'wealthy' and look at what percent of the population meets or exceeds it.

Let's look at $350,000 per year which in 2010 was the cut off for membership in the despicable 1%. Because we want this to be absolute purchasing power, we will increase it by the CPI. That means that in order to have the purchasing power of 350,000 2010USD a household would need to earn 373,915 2014USD. So, this is the proper way to look at it.

In 2010, 1% earned over $350,000. In 2014 about 1 1/2% earned over $373,915. It is not so much that the rich got richer as they got more plentiful.

It is likely that for those who were in the 2010 1%, their income increased significantly. After all, they are participating in the Information Age economy which is inherently growing. For example, during this period, online sales increased at a rate of aboutr 11% per year, substantially higher than the economy as a whole. However, the arithmetic process of determining the average income of the 2010 top 1% and the 2014 top 1% does not valid. As we see from the above, in 2010 we are calculating 100% of what we are calling 'the rich' where in 2014 we are calculating the top 67%. The average income of 'the rich' is going to go up just because of that.There does exist an emergent and more meaningful demarcation of the population. However, it is not defined directly as income, which actually serves to obfuscate rather than elucidate. It is properly defined as those who are entering the Information Age economy and those who are stubbornly (or desperately) holding on to the Industrial Age paradigm of trading time for wages. The former typically have incomes in the '1%' range (now the 1 1/2%) and are seeing rapid incremental increases in their income. The latter are finding that their value added, at best, is remaining unchanged. With an approaching wave of accelerated technological unemployment this situation is going to become much, much worse.

Consider a person who is working for $60,000 per year in an Industrial Age job and then decides to create an Information Age career. The research indicates that typical successful Internet companies will triple their revenue each year for the first three years. Then growth will begin to slow down until the enterprise reaches market saturation. Let's assume that this person starts his or her business with a book value of $100,000 and has a theoretical return of $67,000 per year (See Death of Capitalism). In the first year or two, (s)he will actually experience a decrease in both cash flow and stated income, because most of the return will go to growing the business. However, by year four income has reached $1,800.000 ($67,000 x 3^3) and growth has slowed enough to create significant cash flow. The person now is safely ensconced in the '1%'.

This is what we are seeing. People literally leap into the Information Age income range over the course of just a couple of years, sometimes in just months. They leapfrog members of the '1%' and displace them. Here in Sunny Isles Beach, which is designed for households with million dollar plus incomes, I see it often enough.

For example, one fellow lives in a $3,000,000 condo on the beach and owns a Bentley, Ferarri and AMG S65. He became an affiliate for an online pharmacy and found a way to drive huge amounts of traffic to the site. Many online pharmacies are paying 25% commissions, so 10,000 customers buying $20 per month of medicine is $50,000 per month in income. He apparently does better than that. He hasn't shared how he does it.

Another fellow drives around Sunny Isles Beach in a new white Rolls Royce Wraith. Just last year he started a business where he charges wealthy Russians $150,000 each to get permanent residency status. His service just exploded on the scene in a matter of a couple of months. Just one new client per month puts him comfortably in the top 1%.

Yet, another fellow started an online pet supply site. It went from two employees to 170 employees in just four years, easily exceeding the tripling every year for the first three years that is the norm. Now, he owns a yacht parked next to his penthouse condo at the marina and drives a Bentley.

These are the new members of the Information Age elite. They literally leap into the upper income ranges from the lower 99% and displace previous members of the 1%. They vastly outnumber the investment bankers, hedge fund managers, Fortune 1,000 CEOs and top level lawyers that we are encouraged to think of when we think of the 1%. These new Information Age workers are getting almost all of the increase in GDP per capita from the U.S. economy.

This distinction is very powerful. One thinks quite differently if one thinks in terms of the top 1% getting all the GDP growth than if one thinks in terms of an additional 0.1% of the population joining the Information Age workforce each year. With the first you will likely think in terms of a closed door country club to which you do not belong and to whose members all the goodies go. You will tend to think of income acquisition as a zero sum game and you are on the wrong end of that game. In the second you are more likely to ask, 'Why them and not I? Why do I not decide to become one of the 0.1% who join this group each year?' Why not, indeed?

By 2040, more than 50% of the population will belong to 'the 1%.'

Clearly, from the country club, zero sum game world view of 'the 1%' the above statement is ridiculous. However, when viewed from income rather percentile, plus sum game, it makes perfect sense. Whatever income level a person sets as the cut-off for 'the rich', the number of households that achieve it, in real dollars, is growing and will continue to grow.

Like most economic trends, the percent membership in the Information Age workforce will grow following a logistic or 'S' curve. In other words, for a couple of decades the 0.1% growth in the Information Age workforce will increase - 0.1%, 0.12%, 0.14% etc. This means that while the increase in the '1%' is easy to miss today, it will become obvious within ten years. As it does, the clear bimodal profile of Information Age workforce and Industrial Age workforce will become apparent to all.Income and wealth inequalities are unavoidable and, for most cultural value systems, appropriate. The current concern is over its relative increase over recent history. In 2007, the top 1% earned about 22% of total income, a percent last seen nearly 100 years ago right before the great depression. (Note: some non peer reviewed sources place this as high as 28%)

It has generally been blamed on rather simplistic mechanisms such as the transfer of costs from labor to capital expenditures. Because the wealth disparity has always been greater than income disparity, an increase in capex is seen as the source of the increase in income disparity. However, a Council on Foreign Relations white paper that, while including technological unemployment, also assigns some of the cause to globalization of the labor market, increases in the education premium, etc. However, while not invalid, that is an Industrial Age way of thinking. If we consider who is entering the top income tier and often entering well above 500,000 USD 1% floor, it is essentially people who have mastered the use of high efficiency Information Age marketing.

The pet supply marketer succeeded because he uses the more modern advertising techniques where you will or will not see his display ads based upon the cookies on your computer. The permanent residency consultant and online pharmacy affiliate found very efficient ways to connect their potential customers and their service. That is the single biggest secret to joining the Information Age workforce. It is not easy which is one of the reasons that only 0.1% are managing each year.We see two countervailing forces at work. Advanced robotics and AI are increasing GDP through improved productivity. It is causing technological unemployment which depresses compensation of Industrial Age jobs. At the same time, the new productivity tools are making it possible for individuals and small groups to enter the Information Age workforce which allows them to jump quickly to high income.There are three steps that appear to be essential to success. They are

Find a product, service or content that is marketable to an identifiable market niche

Find a marketing channel that will allow cost effective access to the market niche

Create a business model that is profitable and allows for high internally funded growth

Of these three, number two is usually the stumbling block. In fact, seasoned Information Age workers understand that finding a product is easy, building a viable business model is not difficult, but finding your customers profitably is the big challenge. That is why the Internet is full of advertisements promising to show you how to acquire leads cheaply. By the way, they rarely work.

Despite this, every year some people succeed at it and jump to Information Age incomes. As this happens, no matter what is taken as the floor income of the rich, the percent of the workforce that achieves it by joining the Information Age workforce increases over time. However, by defining the rich on a percentile basis, whether that is 1% or 0.1% or even 0.01%, you are creating a moving target. Every year 'the rich' is redefined and is forced to be an exclusive club with the same number of members. As we saw, this kind of thinking results in some members of 'the rich' enjoying a healthy income increase and still finding that they are no longer rich.

However, if we define 'the rich' by an absolute, even if CPI adjusted, dollar amount, there is no limit to how many people can join. Globally, over most of the developed world, I generally think in terms of 1,000,000 2015USD per year as a reasonable goal. It will fund two super-luxury automobiles and a 500 meter home in most places.

At present, fewer than 1% of households earn that much and even fewer do so year after year. However, over the next 20 to 30 years, 20% or more of households will reach that level. The other 80% while not reaching that level of affluence will still earn a median household income of 500,000 2015USD. There will still be a 1%. However, one need ask whether it will have any significance by today's standards.

By reifying percentiles of income we are confusing ourselves and interfering with our ablity to think productively about our collective economic future.

Join The Polymathic Enterprise Network

We are searching for 150 founders by year end 2017. By paying for one year Membership in The Polymathic Institute, you will receive lifetime membership. This is an opportunity to build a finely crafted life as a Polymath. To learn more, read the page, Polymathic Institute Founding Members.

Membership e-mail

Michael W. Ferguson

Polymath, visionary and change agent

A home for the intellectually sophisticated

Subscribe to The Polymath

The Polymath is the official publication of Polymathica, a global community of refinement and erudition, and The Polymathic Institute, which promotes polymathic research, education, careers and lifestyles. It also promotes projects designed to be remediation for the Inappropriately Excluded.

Your referral code is 32950. It is used to track the source of our new subscribers.

Polymathica Social Media

Register at http://polymathica.network-maker.com and join me at 'Remediation for the Inappropriately Excluded' group. I am aggressively building a series of professionally curated discussion groups and related fora.

Polymathica is a growing, global community of refinement and erudition and a nascent, Information Age Culture of Affluence.

Polymathican Blogs

Remediation Resources

Experiment.com will be a useful tool in our goal of remediation for Polymaths and the inappropriately excluded. While this site provides a good format for funding independent research, it is not going to provide an adequate supply of funders. However, by utilizing our contacts in Polymathica we can move forward in the Polymathic Institute's goal to promote polymathic research and secondarily, polymathic careers.

Fundable.com for many this will be the best crowdfunding platform for equity offerings. Their charge is $179 per month. Of course, the payment processing fee of 3.2% to 3.7% is extra. Still, a three month, $500,000 offering will only have a total cost of around $18,000 to $20,000 far below the 9% to 10% of most platforms. Of course, like all equity funding sites, you will need to bring most of the investors yourself. That is where P.E.N. comes in.

My Quotes

From time to time I post something that deserves more than ephemeral exposure. When that happens, I post it here.

Career Advice

You can't earn a living telling people how things are or how they will be. You earn a living by feeding their confirmation bias. That is not a career to which one should aspire.

On Fools

I really have attempted to abide by the apostolic admonition to suffer fools gladly. However, in the end, there were just too many of them.

On Being Human

I was asked, 'In what way does human intellect differ from other animals in kind and not just in degree?' I answered, 'Only humans can ask that question.'

On Opinions

Those who say, 'That's just my opinion' rarely mean it. Those who say, 'That's just your opinion' almost always do.

IQ in Perspective

A guy once quoted to me, 'When a wise man points at a star the fool looks at his finger.'
I replied, 'True. But so does my dog and I love her dearly.
Let's not overly weigh intelligence in our assessments of worth.'

The First Principle of Information Age Political Philosophy

No person should be required to live under a body of laws, programs and policies that they consider to be fundamentally unjust.

How Markets Really Work

Perception is reality...until reality steps in and says, 'OK, enough!!!'

On the Mainstream News

Pitting a Left Wing lunatic against a Right Wing lunatic gets you a whole lot of pyrotechnics but absolutely no useful insights. You can't average them and find yourself in a defensible middle.

Knowing the Future

There has been no time in the last 200 years when the world thirty years hence was generally believable. Therefore, if someone tells you what the world will be like in thirty years and it seems reasonable, history says that they are wrong.

Make a Difference

I am interested in what you have done, what you are doing and what you will do. I am supremely indifferent to what you could do, but won't. Consequently, I don't care very much about your IQ.